KU volleyball tops TCU, 3-1

The Kansas University volleyball team extended its school-record home winning streak to 12 matches with a four-set victory over TCU on Saturday at Horejsi Center.

The 21st-ranked Jayhawks moved to 19-3 overall and 7-1 in Big 12 play with the 25-21, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19 win.

Middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc led KU with a career-best 23 kills, including a pair that helped the Jayhawks jump out early with a 7-2 lead in the first set. The Horned Frogs closed the gap late to 23-21 late in the set and stuck around throughout the match, eventually winning the third set after dropping the first two. TCU battled Kansas to a 17-all tie in the fourth set before KU closed out the match with a 8-2 run, thanks in part to Jarmoc’s set-best eight kills in nine attempts.

“It’s a grind sometimes,” KU coach Ray Bechard said. “Today that’s what it was. TCU has lost its last four or five matches, all to really, really good teams. They are just trying to make something good happen, so they are playing at a high level. What I thought you saw in the third set was ‘hey, we can’t lose’ but what I thought you saw at the end of the fourth set was ‘hey, we need to go win’. There’s a big difference in those mentalities.

“There’s ebb and flow as the match goes along. In the end, we did enough against a good team. Now, this is a good team, and we now we ended the first half of conference in pretty good shape.”

Sara McClinton (17 kills), Tayler Tolefree (12 kills) and Catherine Carmichael (11 kills) backed up Jarmoc’s career day on offense while Brianne Riley (15 digs) and Chelsea Albers (seven blocks) led the way on defense.

The Jayhawks will take on No. 22 Iowa State on Wednesday in Ames, Iowa.